The Nuremberg rallies were enormous, much like Woodstock for Nazis. They were far from obscure.
QUOTE]Originally posted by Juniper200
there would eventaually be a new construction on the WTC site
[/QUOTE]
The memorial is just temporary. You make valid points. Glad I don’t live next door to it.
Not strictly true, according to Kimstu in this thread.
I like the idea of the columns of light. Maybe we could negate any Nazi associations by steering clear of any “Cathedral” imagery at all.
I’ve got a copy of the Collected Verse of Rudyard Kipling, published in 1910, that’s covered in swastikas. It’s on my bookshelf, but so far, no one’s noticed.
Perhaps I should have said, “Obscure to the average American.” I could be wrong, but I get the impression that you’re a WWII buff.
I mean, have other people made the connection to the Nuremberg rallies?
-Lisa
And, is it just me, or does it appear that the beams would be projected from the water? In which case, would it inhibit the view of the Statue of Liberty?
“Buff” is a word that would be insulting were I capable of being insulted and were I to think you intended that way, which I am sure is not true. I am interested in history and how it relates to the present.
I haven’t seen it, but researching it I found that there were similar associations and complaints made during Berlin’s Y2K celebration.
GOBEAR –
This may be true, but the Native Americans have used the symbol of the broken cross for centuries without regard to its orientation (clock- or counter-). It can symbolize time, or wind, or even the sun. I know this because one swanky old building in my hometown (built before the turn of the last century) has the original tilework in the foyer, featuring a design of what are now called swastikas. They had to put up a big sign saying, no, they were not Nazis, and, no, not all Native American broken crosses turned in the same direction.
As for the OP, and with all due respect to DROP, never hoid of the Nazi “Cathedrals of Light,” and the columns of light as a temporary tribute sounds like a good idea to me.
Actually, it does to me, too. Just wish I didn’t have the negative imagery screwing up its purity for me. I suppose Native Americans and Buddhists and everybody else who uses the swastika nicely agrees. I recall an old farmer in Iowa named Adolph Hitler who was asked during WWII if he planned on changing his name.
“I had it first. Let that other guy change his.”
“Buff (buf), n. …6. informal, a devotee, or well-informed student of some hobby, activity, or subject.”
(Random House Collegiate Dictionary)
Not sure how being classified as a WWII buff could be insulting, drop, but I didn’t intend to insult you. My point is that the average American, not being a “well-informed student of WWII” probably doesn’t make the same connection between the memorial and the Nuremberg rally as you have.
In which case you have to decide if your objection to the memorial still stands, given that you may be one of only a handful who are making the negative association. However, if hundreds of people make the negative association (e.g. the Confederate flag flying over a state capital), then the idea would, of course, have to be scrapped.
I already said I wasn’t insulted because I know you didn’t mean it to be insulting. However, despite the dictionary definition of “buff,” its common usage is in a condescending, dismissive sense. People who suspect that there are hidden forces behind world events are written off as “conspiracy buffs” in the same way that sports car owners are “car buffs” to people who are not interested in cars. I ask that you bear in mind the word’s negative connotations when you use it. Otherwise, you might find yourself in a fight you didn’t expect or look for.
Well thanks for the warning, dropzone. I would hate to find myself bloodied and bruised over the unintentional use of a word as laden as “buff.” 
I’m not yet 40 and I get sore when I see a VW Beetle (the old kind, not the new ones). Hitler personally helped design these things. I can deal much better with other VW products. Of course it is not rational, but I think about it whenever I see one.
Really? It’s the new ones that piss me off. I’m 45, California-born and -bred, and to me, the VW Beetle says cheap, reliable transportation. And hippies.
I’d never known that the set piece at the Nuremburg rally had been called “The Cathedral of Light” (makes me think about Thomas Kinkade, for some reason :)), but my grade school and high school history books contained the image of the rally, with the light column effect, remains starkly etched in my memory. Please note that I am not particlarly erudite in WWII (or any other) history.
That said, when I viewed the proposed Towers of Light and the Cathedral of Light images (thanks for the links, dropzone), I wasn’t struck by any visceral feelings brought on by a resemblance between the two. In fact, the presence of the New York City skyline, IMHO, effectively dilutes, or even eliminates, the resemblance.
Yeah, but remember it was his first sight of the NYC skyline that inspired UFA director Fritz Lang to create the 1927 masterpiece Metropolis!
And that film so inspired Hitler that Joe Goebbels told Lang that HE was gonna be the head of the film section of the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda!
(Of course, Fritz bagged out and ran for Hollywood, but still!)
I understand Hitler enjoyed butter on his toast! I swear NEVER to taste butter again in my life!
Well, when I visited India, I didn’t spend much time inspecting the * svastikas* in Hindu temples, so I will defer to Kimstu’s expertise. However, Korean swastikas on Buddhist temples are most certainly the reverse of the Nazi swastika.
Plus, he was a carbon-based life form, and he metabolized OXYGEN!
That’s it. I’m swearin’ off the stuff. And as soon as the geneticists perfect the science of creating boron-based life forms, and transplanting individual identities into them, I’m first in line.
I hear Hitler was a heterosexual.
Fucking Hets.
You know, it DOES have a Metropolis feel! Damn, that was a boring movie, and I saw it BEFORE the Eurythmics score!
I’m taking back my vote for it.
BORING MOVIE???
Well, drop, since this is the Pit…
%#@*#&@%*#(*#&&@*#**&&@!%@%!!!
Cool sets and Manneristic lighting can take you only so far, pal. %#@*#&@%*#(*#&&@*#**&&@!%@%!!! to you.